Tailoring – What Are Your Top Five Alterations?

“Tailoring can really make or break an outfit.” We’ve heard it a million times! On blogs like Extra Petite and Alterations Needed, the bloggers talk — a lot — about what alterations they get done to make things fit. (Jean from ExtraPetite even guest posted on which suiting alterations you should consider.) I always think every body is different — but that said, there is a lot to be learned from which are the most COMMON alterations. So I thought we’d have a poll: which are the top 5 alterations that you get the most often? Do you think tailoring makes a big impact in your wardrobe? For those of you who’ve lost or gained weight, have you had success with altering older clothes to fit your new body?(If relevant, please consider disclosing your height, body type, and maybe even your weight in the comments.) (You can answer up to 5 times in the poll.) (If I haven’t listed something that you get done frequently, let me know and I’ll try to add it to the poll.) (Pictured: Expert Tailoring Alterations, originally uploaded to Flickr by Jeremy Brooks.)

Comments

I am a huge proponent of tailoring 9about 90% of my work wardrobe has been tailored in some way). Tailoring makes THE difference, provided you find a great one. Tailoring is well worth the money because good fit makes clothes look higher-end (even if you purchased them at a deep discount like I frequently do!)

I agree that tailoring makes all the difference. I think this is one of the main differences between men and women. Men often get their suits tailored, they don’t even think twice about it, but most women I know think that their clothes should immediately fit off the rack. Clothes aren’t made to fit everyone perfectly, you need a tailor to make it fit perfectly.

Exactly. I’m a 16-18 and a lot of clothing in my size is boxy rather than carefully shaped so I feel like I can’t wear anything off the rack. I assumed that slimmer women could always find workwear off the rack, but I frequently have much slimmer friends asking where I shop because they think the fit looks great. There is no magic store, but I do refer them to my magic tailor!

For one that’s not listed that I sometimes do – change buttons. Particularly with cheaper suits, I really don’t like those plastic blazer buttons that say Calvin Klein or whatever on them, so on those suits I’ve always gotten new buttons to replace them, which I think makes a big difference in how the suit looks overall.

I should add that this is an easy one to do yourself, but since I usually need to have a suit hemmed anyway (either pants or jacket or both), I buy the buttons before I go in for that and ask the tailor to do it while they have the suit.

Depends. Simple ones usually or pretty tortoise shell ones . I usually go to the Garment District in NYC and just buy what I think will look good. I either cut off an existing one to bring with me (the spare one attached is great) or measure so I know what will work (most of the blazer buttons are the size of a nickel so that’s a good guide). I find this trickier with sleeve buttons, but the kinds of jackets I’ve done this with usually don’t have those. I prefer simple styles on work clothes, but there’s no reason you couldn’t do the opposite and take a plain button and switch it out for something snazier.

Along a similar vein, I’ve added a button to a suit jacket. I had a one-button jacket for a suit that I absolutely LOVED but just felt that the jacket would look better on me as a 2-button. So I took the jacket to the tailor (with the extra button that was provided with the jacket). A couple hours later and $10, I had a 2-button jacket!

Yes! I hate that. I once found a really great fitting skirt on enormous sale but it had an inexplicable wide pink ribbon at the waist to fashion into a bow, I guess. I ended up having it removed and it was one of my go-to pencil skirts after that.

I’m short (5’2), so most pants are way too long. But I also have a large chest (39 inches), so finding flattering shirts and blazers is quite a challenge: I need to size up for them to fit, and have the sleeves and waist altered to make them more fitting and flattering.
I often buy clothes on Etsy, because you can have them tailored to your exact measurements.

Can anyone shed light on the court martial process? A friend’s ex-H is being brought up on serious charges (almost certainly true) and I want to support her as best I can, but I don’t know what the process entails.

Also, if anyone has experience supporting a friend through this type of event, I’d appreciate some words of wisdom. She’s pretty overwhelmed. He is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad man, but they have a young child together (he currently has visitation rights). I think she’d be perfectly happy if they locked up ex-H and threw away the key but the $$ factor is a source of serious anxiety – she can’t afford daily life for herself/her son without the child support she’ll lose if he’s convicted and imprisoned.

I don’t know anything about the court martial process, but I know a few things about criminal convictions and child support. In the jurisdictions where I’ve worked (and I think in most jurisdictions), nothing except a court order can remove the obligation to pay child support. If you are in prison, you are still obligated to pay child support. If you are unable or unwilling to pay, the other parent can, through the courts, go after any and all assets that you have – so if he owns a house or car, receives social security, owns stock, has any other assets at all, they can be seized/garnished. Even if he has some 10-cent-per-hour prison job that could be garnished. It’s important that she talk to an attorney about this as early as possible, because he may have other debtors, and the date on which you file a claim can affect what order of priority his debtors are repaid.

Not sure how to be a good long distance friend in a situation like this, so I’ll leave the words of wisdom for someone else.

One more thing – I always worked on the defense side so I’m not sure, but I think many states may have funds set up to assist with children in this situation. I know there are a lot of charities that have programs specifically to help children of prisoners. Prison Fellowship is one that comes to mind.

Sounds like Bluejay’s got the knowledge about their material situation. I think you’re on the right track trying to find out specifics about the process. Can you google it? That way, you can mention upcoming big dates without her needing to tell you about them.

On the other stuff:
I’m a single mom. My ex hasn’t been court-marshalled or arrested, but he is a pretty nasty guy–spends lots of his money on booze when his mom has no retirement (she’s in an underdeveloped country), faked a marriage to get a green card, threatened to hit me and the kiddo, has never financially supported us but has claimed us as dependents on his tax return. I don’t know if any of this exactly matches up with your friend’s ex (probably not), but I think I have an idea what it’s like to have a child with a creep. Here are my thoughts:

He is the child’s father. Around 5 yrs old, DS began asking why all the other kids have a daddy and he doesn’t. That was hard. I think it’s really important at those times to present reality at the child’s level as best you can. I don’t need to make his father sound bad–that only makes me look bad (eventually) and DS will, unfortunately, figure it out on his own. When my parents say ugly things about my ex in front of the kid, I think it only hurts him. My role, I think, is to try to support any relationship they can have, even if it’s just an occasional phone call. I don’t sugarcoat it either–when daddy sends a birthday email 5 days after his birthday and congratulates him on turning 3 years older than he is, I let him see it as is. I heard a really frightening This American Life once about a girl whose mother faked letters from her dad all through her childhood, and then the girl moved 1000s of miles to live with him…

I try not to piss him off. When the state decided to go after him as a deadbeat dad, I was right on it, but always spoke to him about “them” requesting info from me. When I found out about the tax thing–I was SO–angry–I found a way to let the IRS “find” it and take it from there. And so on.

Decision-making–What to pack in the diaper bag? Can I switch the car seat around? Is he ready for preschool? Which one?–was crushingly difficult at first. Eventually I realized that the decisions I make as a parent are good ones, and if I goof, I’m the one who has to clean it up anyway.

Being my child’s only parent makes me worry for my own safety in ways I never did before. Yes, I love his godparents dearly and know they’d take good care of him, but he is so attached to me, it would be very very hard for him if I die when he’s young.

These days (warning, saccharin ahead), I feel really privileged to see my son develop from up-close and to be “in” on sides of him he doesn’t show to other people (no, I’m not allowed to let on that he plays Justin Bieber and dances at home). Seriously, it is amazing, and no one else even comes close.

Those decisions that were so scary at first? This year, I decided at the last minute to take a vacation. To Baltimore. I didn’t have to fly it past anyone, or put up with anyone’s comments on that strange choice. We went and had a great time. Every once in a blue moon, we actually get a banana split for dinner and I don’t have to explain a thing. Having our house be just the 2 of us is so much easier than having to keep track of a bunch of people.

The hardest parts, for me, have been having to take a major career hit to be a single mother, and helping my son cope when I made what turned out to be a really bad choice. But we are making it and, like I said, the payoffs are all mine.

I don’t know if any of that’s helpful. Obviously, you can’t give advice if she doesn’t ask for it, but maybe this will give you an idea of what the single parenting without a net part is like. But she will make it. Your confidence in that could mean a lot to her. One other piece of really basic advice: get to know her schedule and ask her every single call if it’s a good time for her to talk, and if she calls you and only has 90 seconds, make sure you listen very closely, and let her know you’re there for her.

JenK: You know that naming someone a godparent doesn’t mean that your child would go with them if you died, right? You need to name them as guardians. You should consult with an attorney on this subject.

I served as an escort for a soldier who’d gone AWOL during his court-martial when I was a corporal, so I might be able to answer any specific questions you have (with the caveat that this was years ago, so my memory might be a little fuzzy.)

I’m pretty sure it’s similar to the civilian judicial process, though. The only differences I can think of off the top of my head (though I’m not very familiar with civilian trials) are that everyone’s in uniform and the defendant can be tried for violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice as well as violations of the law. Also, he had to have two noncommissioned officers from his unit to escort him. (And technically it should have been at least a sergeant instead of a corporal like me, but we were way undermanned.)

There’s also a small, organic cleaners storefront on the same block as the CVS at 1901 Pennsylvania Ave NW (near the World Bank). The lady who works there is Chinese, but I don’t remember her name. She did great alterations when I used to work near there, and I assume she still does.

Mr. Yu in the Air Rights Building in downtown Bethesda is fantastic. I have a size 12 waist and size 8 shoulders and am 5’8, so just about nothing fits off the rack. He does shoulder and seam/dart adjustment on just about every jacket I own, and always does meticulous work. You can absolutely trust him with a $1000 designer jacket as well as with making a $30 Chico’s jacket look great. I have him turn cheap cotton leggings into shorts that are exactly the right length. He’s prompt, extremely pleasant to deal with, and has reasonable prices. I’ve been going there for so long I don’t remember when I started — at least a decade.

Just got my three favorite pieces tailored after losing lots of weight (about three sizes) at Georgetown Valet near McPhereson Square. Went there because they have a five star rating on Yelp (unheard of!). http://www.yelp.com/biz/georgetown-valet-washington-9

My clothes looked great, turn around was about a week and a half for a dress, pair of pants, and skirt (all with lining). About 120 dollars total with cleaning. Sorry, I know this sounds like a yelp review, but it was my first time getting clothes tailored so I am kind of excited about it :-)

Blue Orchid Cleaners in Arlington (between Courthouse and Rosslyn stations). Jenny is the owner. I am 4’10 and need to have almost everything I buy altered. I’ve been going to her for about 6 years. She has altered suit jackets, pants, dresses, shirts…just about everything.

Have used Thanh of SH Tailor in Bellaire…across the “street” from Hefner’s Plaza Cleaners in the strip where there is a BBQ place and two gathering/meeting halls.

She has made me custom suits, tunics as well as tailored just about every jacket, dress, and skirt I own. She even ‘fixed’ errors made by the tailor who altered the vintage formal dress I used this summer.

Busy, but knows her art and crafts fine things. Does alot of wedding, pageant, and dance competition gowns. However, I think her daily regular clothing work is just as detailed and fabulous.

I do this with most of my dresses and skirts too. I have had the best luck with Tahari ASL, Classiques Entier, Maggy London and Eliza J dresses. These brands typically provide a generous 2 inch hem to let out.

I am 5’4″ and weigh 135 — not really small — but find that I almost always need alterations even in petite sizes. In fact, some brands (such as J. Crew) have recently increased the length of petite inseams and sleeves. With an A-cup bustline, I also need to have armholes, straps or bust darts tightened on sleeveless tops and dresses. Since pants now seem to be cut straighter nowadays (even the ones labeled “curvy”) I have to buy a size up and have the waist taken way, way in. That’s less of a problem with skirts. I try to stick to petite sizes for blazers because it is expensive to have shoulders and vented/cuffed sleeves altered.

When I called customer service about the J Crew Hacking jacket last year, they told me the petite sleeves for that style were the same length as the regulars. So it doesn’t surprise me that the sleeves are too long for some petite folks (I find this with all my petite J Crew blouses) but at least customer service will tell you what to expect if you ask.

I recently lost 20 pounds and 1 dress size (I am 5 feet 1 inch tall, and went from a 14p to a 12p) and had an important court appearance coming up. I had recently (after having a baby, but before weight loss) bought a nice suit from Talbots and did not want to have to buy another new suit. So I had both the jacket and the skirt taken in and it came out beautifully! I love it, though am still losing weight so we will see how many times it can be altered….

Always always always hem pants – regular inseam pants are too short and “tall” or “long” pants are too long. Generally am lazy and wear size 12 long pants, just hemmed, but really should take them in all over.

Always looking for pencil skirts that are longer than average – often let the hem out there too.

Hate blazers because they make me look even more rectangle/square-shaped. Probably a good tailor could fix this…

Could you please forward this message to the attorney I sat next to in a deposition a few days ago. She wore a skirt that was just a “tiny” bit too short. That is until she decided to hike one leg across the other (think cowboy sitting on the tailgate of his truck) and use her thigh as a writing board to prop up her legal pad on. Seriously. She was probably late 20’s, but Way too much cellulite thigh in a deposition that took Way too long.

Any suggestions for a tailor in Chicago loop-area. I have been here a few years but I’m still disappointed in everyone that I try or astonished at the price. I have a pile of pants that need hemming and haven’t found a good option yet.

Thankfully, no, 5 lbs on 5’10” doesn’t make anything unwearable, more places to spread out the weight, I suppose! But then again, I don’t generally wear my clothes very form fitted, I’m more of a ‘comfort’ kind of girl and lean more towards a looser fit which gives me some room to grow or shrink.

yes I’m 5’1 so 5 pounds makes a huge difference. I have a couple pencil skirts that I love, but if I gain even 3 lbs, they’re uncomfortably tight. I also have some skirts that are too big for me now but I’m sure as we continue into fall, they’ll fit me again.

Yes! Since I gain all my weight in the lower stomach/hip area, 5 pounds is a clothing size. My solutions:

– Lots of wrap dresses. These always fit.
– Buy any nice A-line skirt I can find that looks good with a black top. The A-lines look better to begin with and are also more forgiving of gaining/losing weight – they just sit in a slightly different place, at the hips versus at the waist.
– Mostly wear outfits that consist of black pants, a neutral color top (usually black also), and a contrasting blazer. That way, as my weight fluctuates, I can switch out the black pants but still wear the same jacket.

I’m 5’4″, 125 lbs, and smallish weight fluctuations definitely change how my pants and dresses fit. Usually I’m heavier in winter and fitter in summer, so I try to build this into my seasonal wardrobe by buying my winter clothes a bit bigger. Still, my wool pants are a bit big when it starts to get cold, my linen shift dresses are a bit tight when it starts to get hot, and sometimes I estimate wrong when shopping and buy things that are just too big / small to ever get worn. I second the suggestion of stretchy knits, though.

Having hems, on pants and sleeves, let DOWN. Sometimes if I find something on the sale rack that is close to long enough (I have about a 34 inch inseam) a good tailor can get that last 3/4 to 1 inch out and it’ll work!

Yes! I was going to make the comment that my most frequent alteration isn’t on there. I’m 6′ tall and have to have EVERYTHING let down. I have a 36″ inseam, so that makes pants buying difficult, although I think finding long enough sleeves might be harder than finding long enough pants. Thank goodness what you said is true – a good tailor can usually get an additional inch or so, and it makes a world of difference!

Ditto! In addition to skirts getting shorter, I’ve also noticed that a lot of skirts (even cheap brands) now have mitered seams in the back vent. Ugh. I know that’s supposed to be a nice design feature, but with the seam allowances cut off at an angle, it makes it way more difficult to let the hem down.

A hem facing is a tall girl’s friend, as you only need about 1/8″ of the existing hem to attach to the facing (http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/18768/go-to-great-lengths).

I hem everything and take in all blazers and a lot of shirts.
I am 5’3″ and “petite” pants are all either too short or too long. I also wear a 10 for most items, but need to go up to a 14 or 16 in suit jackets due to ‘the girls’. I am also short-waisted, so that is even more fun!

I hem almost everything I buy – I’m 5’2″. Petite sizing doesn’t always work for me, as the bust, sleeves and waist is sometimes too small. Except for the length of garments, I’ve found that a size 6 regular fits me perfectly. A size 6P is too small, and a 8P is too big.

I also lost 50 pounds somewhat recently, and have been maintaining for 2 years. Throughout the weightloss process, I did tailor items smaller on a regular basis. However, I had the best luck with pencil skirts. The cost to take in the waist and hips on a pencil skirt was very managable. I’m still wearing my size 10 pencil skirts tailored down to a size 6. I had a dress altered once to reduce it 2 sizes, and the tailoring cost almost as much as the dress. Also, you can’t really tailor a size 16 garmet to a 6. At some point, you just have to buy new. I would size something down 2 sizes, then donate it to the goodwill after that and buy something new.

I recently lost over 40 lbs — very slowly, over 6 years — and as I lost the weight, I had a lot of my professional clothes taken in. I just now finally tossed a size 16P skirt that I had already tailored down twice (first to about a 14 and then again to about a 12).

I also had good luck taking in lightweight pants, without hip pockets (or if I had the pockets removed and stitched closed). Almost all my pants were taken in at the seat/inseam, and the end result fit better than when new.

I lost weight *really slowly,* so tailoring allowed me to adjust my wardrobe a half-size or so at a time. I read somewhere that there is an average of 7 lbs between sizes (and more like 10 lbs between plus sizes). It’s sooooo nice to be able to have clothes that fit without waiting to loose another 5 lbs.

Although it’s not tailoring, I’ve had good luck with “strategic shrinking,” inspired by AlterationsNeeded. I have successfully used this method on tees, sweaters, cotton shorts, dry-clean skirts, unlined dryclean pants. So far, I have had no disasters, except some fading and a rougher finish on the fabrics. Also, clothes shrink more vertically than horizontally, so you can easily end up with your pants too short. Now I just wear them with flats.

Another one with T-rex arms. I always have to have my jacket sleeves hemmed. And I just learned the hard way not to buy jackets with button holes at the cuffs (it’s ok as long as the holes aren’t cut). Two different tailors told me the jacket could not be hemmed. I ended up paying significantly more to have the sleeves shortened from the shoulder.

Ha ha, T-Rex arms! I have that problem too. Regular sleeves are always way too long on me, but petite tops are too short in the body. I have the same problem with pants, too — I have abnormally short calves but a regular rise.

I just had the sleeves shortened on two different jackets, both with non-working buttons on the sleeves, with completely different results. One tailor just folded up the sleeves and hemmed them, and charged me $20. It looks pretty bad. The other tailor hemmed the sleeves from the bottom, but remade the button holes and the sleeve vent, and charged me $50. It looks great.

I’m the opposite of the T-rex arms you ladies are lamenting — monkey arms run in my family, so I’ve never ever had to hem my sleeves (though there are plenty of jackets too short in the arms for me).

I also have a really long torso, and find that tall pants often fit better through the hips/waist, even though I by no means need the length in the leg (31″ inseam). But, since if I bought a regular pant with a 32″inseam, I’d have to get them hemmed anyway. Recently I’ve gained a bunch of weight (50+ lbs in the last year), and find that to my surprise, off-the rack blazers fit fat-me without tailoring. It’s the one silver lining to my unhealthy current weight, as at my usual healthy weight, I always need to get blazers taken in at the waist and often shoulders.

Agh, I have monkey arms too matched with a nearly A chest and a high waist / short torso. So everything is a small, but the arms are a large. I don’t even bother to try on jackets anymore. I stick with dresses – so I can either put a tight long sleeve shirt under it or wear a cardigan.

I have the same problem as layered bob. Long pants are too long; regular pants are the right length for flats if I’m lucky. I’m 5’10” and hem for 2″ heels.

This thread has inspired me to be less lazy and let more of my skirts down. I have pencil skirts that are supposed to hit at the knee-ish but are a couple inches short on me. I always figured a skirt a smidge too high isn’t as obvious/offensive as flood pants so I don’t bother. No more skirt length apathy!

I’ve also never thought of making pant legs slimmer. Love it! I’ve completely rejected my wide leg trousers since skinny trousers took off. I’ve even been grumpy about wearing anything boot cut (BR Martin). I am going to see what can be done.

I will add that my proudest recent tailoring moment was modifying the epaulets on a trench coat to make them lay flatter. It was a small tweak but it made the jacket much more flattering to my gorilla shoulders.

5’8″ with very long arms. Also pear-shaped, with relatively small waist to wide hips/thighs, so by far my most frequent alterations are hemming trousers (as someone else said, regular length is too short and long is too long) and taking in the waist of trousers. Two other alterations that I’ve had done several times aren’t on the list:
1. Letting out sleeves to be longer.
2. Stitching slash pockets closed so that the waist/front upper thigh area of trousers lies smoother and flatter.

#2. Totally this! I always felt awkward about slash pockets — felt like it adds 10 lbs to the look on me. It was an amazing moment for me when I realized that an easy alteration could make some of my least-worn pants into favorites.

I’ve occasionally gotten pants hemmed, if they had a cuff and I couldn’t do it myself, but generally don’t buy anything unless it already fits me well. A couple of years ago I made an exception for a beautiful white sundress that was marked down to something like $20 at a White House/Black Market outlet. Tailoring it down 3 or 4 sizes cost nearly $80–way more than I expected. It fit (and looked) like a dream. Then I gained 25 pounds before I had a chance to wear it.

Maube Mor – she comes to your house or office! She has done a whole variety of alterations for me (and my husband). And she has a good eye for what you need and don’t need. www dot fittingimagemor dot com

I have recently started altering almost all my work clothes after losing about 25 lbs over 9 months, which translated to about 2 to 3 sizes depending on whether it is a jacket, skirt, pants or dress. I altered a lot of my in between clothes to avoid having to buy a new wardrobe twice. I am now 5’7″ and 132 lbs. I was a swimmer my whole life so I have that shape plus boobs. Not a common shape – I really should have been altering sooner. I most often take in skirt waist, pant waist, dress waist and have also altered jacket length and shortened sleeves. I am noticing that even if I buy my new size I have a major problem with blazers. They are always loose in the waist because they have to fit my ginorm shoulders and chest. I also always get the pants hemmed to fit heels. I find that curious given that 5’7″ is supposed to be the max height for most “regular” length pants.

I’m 5’6″, 31″ inseam, and plus-size. I get all my pants altered. I have a 12″ difference between waist and hip right now and most plus-size suit pants seem to be cut straight up and down. I’m also too tall for plus petite pants but too short for plus regular pants. My jackets are almost always fine if I can get a WP, but if I have to get the W it needs to be taken in and taken in at the sleeves.

I’m 5’0″, 140 lbs, with a 29″ inseam. I’m curvy for my height, so I wear size 10/12 pants and Petite Large tops to accomodate the curves. The waists of my pants and the waists of my tops are always too loose, but normally I just live with it because I don’t have time to go to the one good tailor in Berkeley and wait in line for an hour to get fitted.

However… the one time I sucked it up was when I had big interviews coming up, so I bought a skirt suit one size too big and had the jacket and skirt taken in correctly. The suit cost me $150 on sale at Nordstrom, and the alterations were almost as expensive – they took in the jacket waist, shortened the sleeves from the shoulder and swapped in very thin shoulder pads, then took in the skirt waist and added darts or something. I looked damned good. I used it for two interviews, got the second job, and even six months later, people at work were talking about how great my suit fit me during my interview.

I need to load up on podcasts and go to the tailor – I have at least 3 pairs of pants and two button-down blouses that need attention.

In Berkeley, it’s Advanced European Tailoring on Addison near Shattuck. Zoltan is the owner and main tailor. He’s very courteous and precise and takes his time. I used to work with a French woman who was extremely picky about fashion and fit, and Zoltan was the only tailor she would let near her clothes. They sometimes let other tailors in their shop do simple hemming, and those results have been either excellent or just OK, so keep an eye out for hemming variability when you pick up the pieces.

I would love a good tailor recommendation in Pittsburgh, if anyone has one.

I had heard great things about Frank the Tailor in the Oliver building, but have had mixed results (most recently, several pair of pants that are hemmed so unevenly that it’s comic). For the price ($20/hem), I’m irritated. I plan to go back and make them fix it, but am not keen to repeat this experience. It’s hard enough to find time to run to the tailor once let alone multiple times for the same item. I’d even be willing to drive to the burbs if I could find someone good, but would prefer recommendations downtown or in the east end.

Seconding this. I’ve tried Ianni’s in Squirrel Hill and didn’t like them. I have Four Seasons do simpler stuff (they’ve taken in 7 or so skirt waists for me) and they’ve done surprisingly well, so I might try them with something more complicated like a jacket even though I’m skeptical of taking something like that to a dry cleaner.

At 5’3″ and 120 pounds I have weirdly long legs and a super short torso – so much so that I rarely ever get pants hemmed, but often get shirts hemmed and *especially* get shoulder straps taken up on tank tops and dresses. The armholes are hyooooge on so many cute tanks and dresses.

I’d like to second Erin’s request for a NYC tailor. Preferably near work (downtown/financial district/city hall/chinatown) or home (upper west side). I used to live in NC and I miss my amazing alteration shop!

I have to get my bottoms hemmed because I am only five one but a size six. Most petite clothes seem to come only in two or less. I have to buy the regular sizes and then alter the length. It’s such a pain!

Any recommendations for the Lehigh Valley/Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA? I’m pretty close to the NJ border, so I could head a little in that way…
I tried the dry cleaner next to my house this summer after having moderate success with a skirt a whlie back. I wanted her to do a really tiny hem on a dress picked up at the thrift store, and had already ripped the hem out (didn’t have the special hemming foot for my sewing machine), but all she did was re-do the hem I ripped out!that learning experience cost $95 for one replaced zipper on one dress, the re-done hem on a second dress, and taking on a dress under the arms so it wouldn’t pucker… oh well. I haven’t really had to have anything altered besides that, and I’m sure if I got industrious, I could figure it out myself…i guess I should count myself lucky? =)